More

Meeting tonight with Jessy was great as always.  Something she said at the beginning of our meeting stuck with me the entire night, into our prayers, driving home, and now sitting in front of my computer.

For the past little while, I feel like even with my daily Bible reading, prayer life, devotions, and fellowship, I feel like I need more.  I can't really describe it, but I feel like I am still not doing enough, sometimes selling God a little short, not giving him my all.  When I shared this with her, she said that this is a good sign, that we need this to keep us going, God wants more out of us.  Well that is the gist, I forget her actual words =p

Now I wonder what it is that God wants out of me.  It is always scary to ask God, because deep down you know he will deliver, and what he delivers may not always be what we want, but it is what HE wants out of us.

But alas, I do want MORE.

Bleach, Babies & Birthdays!

Saturday was a full day! Beginning in the morning we had a great time of sharing before cleaning up the sanctuary. It was so great to have Sam, Vince & Eddie back! It was good sharing and great prayer. I love supporting people through the power of prayer!

Then we went to clean up the sanctuary. I am feeling the effects of scrubbing down the pews and wiping all the dust out of the crevaces. It was a good time to catch up with people as we cleaned away, hearing how God is working in their lives and everything else in between!

From the church, I drove Eleasa and myself to Cindy's baby shower! Oh what fun we had! There were "fun" games, great conversations, and everything was just so incredibly cute! I love baby stuff! It was great catching up with some an old friend as well and what's going on in her life since getting married in May.

From there, Kelly and I drove downtown for Jen's birthday! I love spending time with these girls! With all of our busy schedules and the fact that some of us are out-of-town, we need occasions to come together. Dinner was fun as usual--there is never a dull moment with these ladies! Living together really does bring you closer. Just to think we were mere strangers less than 5 years ago, and now we have so many memories we share together. I hope that we have many more memories together!

The drive home with Kell was fun, I really feel that God has blessed our relationship--especially in the last few months, serving together, seeing so much of each other, supporting one another through prayer, encouraging one another. God has truly blessed me with a sister in Christ who I can turn to!

I'm looking forward to a week that was less busy than last week, albeit that hardly ever happens for me anymore!

Cold

Coming home yesterday I realized how unready I am for winter.  I don't really mind the snow, it is pretty, I loved watching it fall last Wednesday.  However, I am not ready or wanting to drive in the snow, as per my previous post.  I am also not ready or really wanting to embrace the COLD!  It is so incredibly cold!  As I get older, I feel like this feeling just gets stronger and stronger each year! =p  I think it is also signalling another year has passed and I am getting older! haha... However, this year had definitely been a good year, a blessed year indeed.

Talks

This morning, I had breakfast with a dear friend. We have been friends for far too long--over 10 years! We have been through a lot and I know that we will go through a lot more together. She has always been there for me and I hope that she knows that I will try to do the same for her as well. I have learned a lot from her and it is really good to know that God has blessed me with such a wonderful sister in Christ.

We went to Panera Bread, which just opened across from Square One. I had the spinach and artichoke egg souffle with a caramel latte. Yummy!

It was good times, filled with amazing conversations. I know that God was there and may we always be able to encourage one another in prayer!

We then went shopping for a hat for Aban since spending a year outside of the country, she needs to be re-acclimated to Canada's winter! =p And way to go Walmart for providing a nice green hat! And in the words of Aban, now with my brown jacket, I will look like a tree! A sight to behold I tell you!

Tree

So after posting my previous entry, I go back to my Gmail account to be totally taken aback because it looks so weird. And I message Kev and Richard in a fury because I'm wondering if their accounts changed as well. This is when I find the info box on the top of my screen!

I come to find out that Google has just introduced "Themes" to Gmail. I got excited when I realized because they have so many cool and cute designs!! Some were weird, but for the most part the designs were really fun!

Richard and I went through most of the themes rather quickly, and I think both of use decided on using the "Tree" theme! I think it's the coolest and cutest one of all! They ask for your location, and based on your location, the background adapts to the weather conditions outside! And since it's snowing in the GTA, I have snow in the background and there is some snow on top of my message boxes! We only found this out because he thought it was for marketing purposes so I changed my location to Beijing, and there was smog in the sky! hahaha! And then I changed it to Puerto Plata, and there was rain because it's raining there now! I think that is too cool! Don't you think so?!

I know, small things amuse me, but now it's so pretty!

Salt

Driving today was crazy to say the least. And I know how bad salt is for the environment, seeing as I have a geography background, but on this first day/night of snowfall in the GTA, with some form of accumulation, I was very thankful for it!

Driving to my second session tonight was pretty bad, took me about twice the time to get there than usual. And then driving to prayer meeting from there took about 40 minutes, using all city streets. There was only 1 incident where I had to pump my brakes, but God got me to prayer meeting and then he got me home. Getting to prayer meeting was probably the worst part in terms of driving, since it was a long distance, and my side of the road did not have salt yet! I got upset at the fact that the other side had been salted!

I am glad that I went to prayer meeting, even though I wanted to go home because of the weather. Had some good talks with people and good time of prayer.

Parents

Eleasa mentioned something today that made me reflect. I totally took advantage of the time with my parents that I had at home in high school and even in the last year and a half. I wish I could spend more time with them, especially my dad. When my dad gets home from work, I am off to go and tutor. I hardly get to see him anymore. I was actually really happy this past weekend when I came home on Saturday night and had dinner with the whole family! I believe that it is so true why these days families fall apart, they are no longer having family dinners together. I know that when I was younger and my dad owned the restaurant he wasn't home much, but he would always be home the Tuesday the restaurant was closed. I don't specifically remember specific dinners, but I do remember my parents spending whatever time they had with us--on family outings, at the restaurant, family dinners, fishing trips, camping, and so much more.

Sometimes when I think back upon it, parents put up with a lot. We would go to Canada's Wonderland, pay admission for four people, and only my brother and I would go on the rides. I distinctly remember cooking instant noodles on our trip to Disney World. The dreaded teenage years, that I feel my brother is still going through sometimes. Working so incredibly hard, and hardly getting the recognition.

Tonight was a good reminder for me to really try to honour them, their wishes, and to just take time to talk to them, especially about God and the Gospel. I love my parents so much more when I take the time to think about this. I wish I had more time to spend at home--but it would mean giving up some of my tutoring. But I feel that God is telling me that anyways. We will see how God wants me to act next.